The irrationality of fandom.

I include myself in this indictment. I earlier wrote that "UM was going to get their ass kicked". After that I banned myself until the game was over because I knew I had let the emotions of the game get to me.

I think some on here need to realize that they too are being impacted intellectually by the moment. They have, in their rage over a loss to Ohio, lost their ability to see clearly.

A rational mind can issue valid criticisms of UM's performance today while see that the program is trending upwards. The superb recruiting classes, the 19 wins in two years, a victory in a BCS bowl, wins over MSU, Ohio, and ND...the evidence is there that future championships await.

But fans don't always see that. They let the immediate impact their perception of the future. Many fans wanted Beilein gone after two losing seasons in three years. But Bill Martin and Dave Brandon had the patience to let John Beilein develop his program. Now UM basketball is at a place they haven't been since the days of Steve Fisher--a top 5 team.

I don't know if Hoke will reach those heights, but the indicators certainly are promising. Borgas has overseen an undefeated season as a OC and Mattison has been a superb DC for 20 years. UM's recruiting is the best it has been since the late 90's. Michigan is playing good defense, the special teams have markedly improved, the discipline is good..there is reason to believe that this program is heading towards something special.

Is it a guarantee that UM will achieve greatness again? No. Hoke may flame out. The issues with Borgas' playcalling may continue to hold the program back, Mattison's defense may take a step back...a lot of things can happen which may alter the current course. But at this time I have little reason to think that UM will be anything less than victors in the not-so-distant future.

Patience, my friends, patience. I know it is frustrating--especially in light of Meyer and Kelly's success--to be so, but good things do come to those who wait.(Unless you are a Lions fan then no.)

Look in every season there are a limited amount of opportunities to win a game and there are even less opportunities to prove yourself against the best teams on your schedule (maybe 3-4 per season). In those opportunities, legends and losers are made. Borges has not proven that in big, yet limited, opportunities that he belongs. We have a shining example of what a coach with limited talent, talent not on par with previous Michigan teams, can accomplish...and that guy is Greg Mattison. He's not a magician, he's not lucky, but he is smart and he's a winner. The sooner we accept this reality, the better.

Patience? Sure, let me bury myself for another 11 years and come back and see if we have 1 win against OSU in those 11 years. Remember all those years under Carr with bad coaching and losing to OSU? it was always "1 more year" "get better recruits" "better playcalling" ... My friends the future is here. We're still losing.

Posters calling for "rationality"... "balance" need to relax because if we had won you'd be whooping and hollering. Note for life: Don't get in front of a train. It will run you over. Mfan emotions are that train given the outcome.

Rather than trying to be Mr. Sensible Michigan Man, just the let the emotion play out, come back. Otherwise, you're pissing in the wind and given your attitude, you'd probably patiently wait for the wind to stop blowing.

I don't think people are upset that we lost. I think people are upset with how we lost that game. We had a chance to win and quite frankly if we had the first half mentality in the second half we might have won. What is disappointing to me is that we had one of the greatest talents to ever play at this damn school and he has a 1-3 record against Ohio. That sucks.

But I know hopelessness as a fan. I am an EMU and Lions fan. Talk about frustration.

At least UM has the HOPE of success. At least they have won in recent memory. I don't think UM fans as a whole really appreciate how hard it is to win and to win consistently. They just assume the wins will or should come.

I'll see your misery and raise you failure. I'm a Browns fan and going to the game tomorrow against the Steelers. I expect my frustrations to continue unabated in the factory of sadness that is known around here as Browns stadium.

But on the bright side the marketing geniuses at Ticketmaster are giving us all flags to waive at the game tomorrow. White flags for reasons unknown so we can all "surrender" it seems when things get ugly.

What is irrational about questioning Borges' capabilities after that game? After the whole season? I have great hope for the future but Ohio is basically in the same rebuilding position we are at this point and our coaches blew it. We'll get better, but they will too. I'm less bullish on the future after this game.

The problem is it doesnt matter what players you have. If the system includes doing the same thing a hundred times when it doesnt work the 99 times before, the system is insanity. I really hope better players help, but if we dont have better coaching to put them in the right positions we're going to have to continue to be satisfied with 4 loss seasons. I really dont mean to dump on your post, but I read this site and it seems like this fanbase has become complacent with average

tends to mostly get it right. Borges had several brainfart series, but he also called a great first half. We turned the ball over three times, and ran a bad fourth down play. Wish Denard and Devin had been on the field together at the end, but Denard couldn't block for Devin long enough to let the passes we needed develop (or that seemed to be the rationale). Game over.

OSU carried Tressel onto the field at the end of the first quarter and 105,000 people saluted his corrupt ass. Still glad we're not them.

Borges was given spread personnel and told to play manball with them. Exactly what in the fuck is he supposed to do?

The real problem here is that David Brandon has sacrificed six or seven years of Michigan football with his decisions. He botched the RR era, and Michigan is currently suffering the consequences of David Brandon's ego. It will obviously be three more years before Hoke and Borges have the personnel to execute the manball mandate.

The real problem is that, somewhere in the DNA of the Michigan coaching tree, "Michigan football" and "tough" mean "let's tell them what exactly we're going to do and then we'll out-execute them." That didn't even work in the last twenty years of the 20th century; it can't be expected to work in the 21st.

Borges should be given the green light to run the "two-minute offense" for the entire game. Whether it's the spread option or the WCO, spreading the field and keeping the defense off balance with tempo are great ways to win football games.

It's time to bury the illusion of "manball" and bring the Wolverines back into the 21st century. If it doesn't happen, Ohio is going to be a lot closer to evening up the series by the next decade.

If I look pre-Rich Rod, because to me that was an aboration, we are producing at the level we were in Carr's last year, (same record) but don't have the talent level yet. The key word there is yet, because I don't think it's fair to judge a coach until year 4 or 5 when the team is filled by his recruits only. That being said, we had pretty good talent in Carr's last year but unfortunately Henne and Hart were injured much of the year. And, even though we had talent we couldn't beat OSU. So, I think Hoke has really reinvigorated us and our fanbase. He has instilled a toughness that we lacked. We do a better job focusing on our rivalries and emphasizing them. We have fared much better against OSU and ND, two of our main rivals. But, we still have some issues that need to be addressed.

Righ now our o-line is killing us. That is addresed IMO in recruiting, it just needs to develop. That is easy to take solace, hard because it will still be bad next year. We are also weak on the back end with DBs. I think that has been addressed in recruiting already, but needs to develop. Our interior d-line was questionable at the beginning of the season. They have played better than I thought, but are not exactly elite either. I think Poggi/Pipkins will be all-conference caliber, but we need more depth. We have Gardner at QB who appears to be pretty good and we may get him for 2 years, then get a highly rated recruit. We still have Fitz who I think is good, and have another year to land an elite RB. Our linebackers have been addressed and for once will be a strong suit. My concerns now pash rushing DEs, big play WR, and elite RB (by 2014). These are very real weaknesses that we have not fixed yet.

Now the problem is it's not enough to get good players at these positions, they need to be better than OSU's. I have said I'm concerned going forward of OSU's pass defense by having two great pass rushers in Washington and Spense, and two great corners in Woodard and Burrows, who are also taller than half of our recievers by the way. At the other positions I think we are just as good if not better going forward. We got killed in the trenches today, but I don't see that as an issue in 2014 and beyond. But, our weaknesses and their strengths are areas of concern. Their corners are still big, physical, and fast when compared to our recievers. Their pass rush is much more effective than ours, even without their best pass rusher. And, their recievers have the ability to break plays down field that we simply don't seem to have the ability to make.

So, yes we have developed a toughness and a focus on our rivals that we lacked in the Carr years. Yes, we have fared better against ND and OSU that we did in the Carr years. No, we are not at the talent level of Carr's era yet, but it's not fair to judge for another 2-3 years and it appears that we will eventually be. But, we always must compare it to OSU and I have some concerns, but it looks as though we will be pretty evenly matched with them and have close games. We just need to either win those close games and/or defend our home field. It will eventually turn into manball again and will be interesting to see who wins these matchups going forward. I refrain from judging until 2014.

crop of freshmen. The existing players will have to step into what might seem like big shoes to them. Every one of them is going to lay it on the line for themselves, their teammates, and the Block M. I'll buy a drink for the first person to convince me that they are not deserving of the support of the fan base without all the whining and crying.